Vander Waal and Wingard Receive MW Player of the Week Honors

For the first time this season, the Wyoming Cowboys have a Mountain West Football Player of the Week. In fact, they have two after their win over Air Force last Saturday.

Redshirt freshman QB Tyler Vander Waal was named the MW Offensive Player of the Week, and senior safety Andrew Wingard earned MW Defensive Player of the Week, as announced by the league Monday.

It’s the fourth honor in Wingard’s career, while this is the first for Vander Waal.

Down, 27-14 with 8:44 left, Vander Waal led UW to 21 points in the final five minutes. He had 247 yards of total offense and accounted for four touchdowns in the victory against the Falcons. Vander Waal threw for a career-best 225 yards and two scores and added another 22 yards and two TDs on the ground. He found Austin Conway for the game-winning, go-ahead TD pass from 22-yards out with 1:09 remaining. Vander Waal was responsible for 11 explosive plays of 10-yards or longer.

Wingard finished with a game-high 13 tackles and an interception that sealed the Wyoming win with 23 seconds left. He had six solo tackles and seven assisted stops, which led the Cowboys in each category. It was the 23rd double-figure tackle game of his career. Wingard is now six tackles shy of becoming the MW all-time leading tackler. He also No. 2 on the Wyoming career tackle list.

Wyoming concludes its regular season Saturday at New Mexico. Kick-off in Albuquerque is at 12:30 p.m. The Cowboys need a victory to get bowl-eligible. Coverage will start at 11:30 a.m. on KOWB.